1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an end mill and, more particularly, to a throw-away end mill which is capable of carrying out slotting and profiling at once.
2. Description of the Related Art
An end mill which has end cutting edges and side cutting edges or peripheral cutting edges is used widely in a machine tool for slotting, stepping, curved-face milling and profiling. When milling a workpiece to obtain a curved groove or a stepped groove in a surface of the workpiece by the end mill, a groove of a predetermined depth is initially shaped by the end cutting edges of the end mill. Then , the end mill is fed along the groove to shape a curved face by cutting by the side cutting edges. A throw-away end mill which is provided with throw-away tips is conventionally used in the machine tool. The throw-away end mill for the specific purpose of milling curved grooves is provided with end cutting chips for slotting and peripheral cutting chips for curved face milling.
There are some drawbacks to the conventional throw-away end mill as follows. As any large diameter end mills capable of simultaneously carrying out slotting and curved face milling have not been available, when cutting a curved surface of a great width, end mill for the purpose of both slotting and a curved face milling tool, such as a circular cutter, are used in combination. The throw-away end mill capable of simultaneously carrying out both of slotting and curved face milling is subject to a highly intensive cutting force and is liable to chatter.